• Kurti: We expect visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens in 2022 (media)
• Lajcak meets Kurti in Vienna (media)
• Hajdari: Kosovo in CEFTA only as a state, not through UNMIK (Koha)
• MPs: Investigate case of Romas were not served in Gjakova bar (EO)
• Berisha: Kosovo as a society must reflect positively toward us (Klan Kosova)
• Kosovo Serb politician Ivanovic threatened before murder, court told (BIRN)
• Bota Sot editor-in-chief receives threats (Klan Kosova)
• Justice institutions oppose plan for vetting judges and prosecutors (Exit News)
• Albanians deny Serbia claim on deal on their removal from civil registry (Exit News)
• LAREG Meeting in Paris: on the media situation in the Balkans countries (EFJ)
• COVID-19: 10 new cases, no deaths (media)
• Flaming bus crash in Bulgaria kills 45 North Macedonian tourists (Reuters)

Kurti: We expect visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens in 2022 (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Monday in Vienna that Kosovo must get visa liberalisation next year. “I think the time is right to have visa liberalisation for Kosovo sometime next year,” Kurti said during a discussion titled “Kosovo: A ray of hope for democracy in South-East Europe”. “This of course does not depend from us. But whenever we meet European colleagues and friends, they all see it as a great injustice against Kosovo.”

Kurti also said that Kosovo has met 95 criteria in the visa liberalisation process, “which is more than the criteria met by Albania, North Macedonia or Serbia”.

During the discussions, Kurti also talked about Kosovo’s relations with the United States of America. He said the September 2020 agreement in Washington was more of an attempt for a quick agreement rather than aid for Kosovo and Serbia to move forward. “As far as the September agreement in Washington is concerned, it includes many elements, and I’m not saying that every element is not good, because there is the mutual recognition with Israel which has been implemented and it is positive. But I must say that this kind of unilateral pledge between Kosovo and Serbia last year was more of a tactical move by the previous administration before the elections in the U.S. … I see it more as an attempt for a quick agreement that would support the international image and domestic policies of the former President rather than help Kosovo and Serbia to move forward,” he said.

Kurti said that Kosovo has very good relations with the Biden administration. “President Biden is one of the most progressive leaders in the world. If we look at his program, it is socio-democratic and everybody needs that, not only the U.S., but all countries. I had the opportunity to meet U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the dinner hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. She gave an exceptional speech at the forum,” Kurti added.

Lajcak meets Kurti in Vienna (media)

European Union Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, met with Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, in Vienna on Monday. “In Vienna today, I had an in-depth discussion with Prime Minister of Kosovo @albinkurti about the current state of play and way forward in the EU-facilitated Dialogue,” Lajcak tweeted.

Hajdari: Kosovo in CEFTA only as a state, not through UNMIK (Koha)

Kosovo’s Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Rozeta Hajdari, said in an interview with the TV station on Monday that the Kosovo Government has requested to be represented as Kosovo in CEFTA and not through UNMIK. Hajdari said the request to change the manner of representation was submitted on September 24 and that she expects good news.

“We are waiting for an answer. I have been in continuous communication with [North Macedonia Trade Minister and chair of CEFTA Committee] Bekteshi and he will call a meeting soon. In CEFTA meetings, Serbia and Moldavia are against, so is Bosnia often. If they are against, especially Serbia and Moldavia, there can be no consensus decisions. So, if there is no consensus on Kosovo, Kosovo will also not give consensus for CEFTA decisions that are in favor of Serbia and Moldavia,” Hajdari said.

Hajdari also argued that CEFTA failed to eliminate trade barriers between countries. “If our request is not addressed, we will have no reason to support CEFTA decisions,” she said.

MPs: Investigate case of Romas were not served in Gjakova bar (EO)

The Kosovo Assembly’s Committee for Human Rights, Gender Equality, Missing Persons, Victims of Sexual Violence in Conflict and Petitions, condemned the discrimination of members of non-majority communities who were not served in a bar in Gjakova. “The case was denounced by Minister Elbert Krasniqi and we want to join the concern which is now public. Kosovo’s citizens are equal according to the Constitution and all applicable laws. In this respect, those that don’t respect the laws, and not the non-majority communities, are a problem in our society. As members of the Kosovo Assembly we are concerned and call on all responsible institutions to investigate the case. Moreover, everything related to the case must be made public so that it serves as an example and so that such cases are never repeated in our society,” the committee said in their reaction.

Berisha: Kosovo as a society must reflect positively toward us (Klan Kosova)

Veton Berisha, leader of the Egyptian Liberal Party, told the TV station on Monday that the two recent incidents involving members of non-majority communities are only a few that are made public and that Kosovars as a society must reflect positively toward the communities.

Berisha said the Kosovo Government must do more for the communities. “I think Kosovo as a society must reflect positively toward us, because we went through everything together. Today there is an unacceptable division. Every government, especially the current government which includes the communities and also a minister from the communities, must do more,” he added.

Kosovo Serb politician Ivanovic threatened before murder, court told (BIRN)

Three years after the initial indictment for the murder of Kosovo Serb political party leader Oliver Ivanovic, the first witness was heard in the trial at Pristina Basic Court on Monday.

Ksenija Bozovic, the vice-president of Ivanovic’s Freedom, Democracy, Justice party at the time of his death in January 2018, testified that he had said publicly that he was being threatened, particularly during the 2017 municipal elections in Kosovo, when he was a candidate for mayor of the Serb-dominated North Mitrovica municipality.

“Ivanovic declared his fear for his safety to the Albanian and Serbian media as well as to [NATO’s Kosovo force] KFOR, [EU rule-of-law mission] EULEX and foreign embassies,” she told the court.

Bozovic, who said she knew Ivanovic for 20 years, listed several occasions on which he was targeted, including incidents in which his car was burned and his house broken into. She also accused police of not acting professionally in the murder case.

The witness said she did not recognise any of the accused who were present in court, except for Silvana Arsovic, with whom she worked while Arsovic was Ivanovic’s assistant.

Four of the defendants – Marko Rosic, Silvana Arsovic, Rade Basara, and Nedeljko Spasojevic – are accused of being members of a joint criminal enterprise that murdered Ivanovic outside his political party’s office in the city of Mitrovica in January 2018.

Two police officers, Dragisa Markovic and Zarko Jovanovic, are also on trial, accused of evidence-tampering in the case.

All of them have pleaded not guilty.

Defendant Basara’s lawyer, Tome Gashi, told media that “the witness has so far not said anything concrete about the persons involved, she has expressed her concern about the investigations that were done. There is nothing concrete that would help the trial panel.”

Kosovo Serb businessmen Milan Radojicic and Zvonko Veselinovic have been accused of being the leaders of the organised criminal group that killed Ivanovic.

Radoicic, who is also the vice-president of the main Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb political party, Srpska Lista, is widely seen as the real power-holder in Serb-majority northern Kosovo. He has denied involvement in Ivanovic’s murder.

Once seen as a hardline nationalist, Ivanovic had evolved into a political moderate who advocated coexistence between Kosovo’s Serb minority and Albanian majority.

He had also become increasingly vocal in his criticism of the Belgrade government.

At the time of his death, he was being retried for ordering the murder of Kosovo Albanians during the war in Kosovo in 1999. He pleaded not guilty.

Bota Sot editor-in-chief receives threats (Klan Kosova)

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo said on Monday that Bota Sot editor-in-chief, Idriz Morina, received threats on Sunday against him and his family because of his writings. Morina reported the case to the police and investigations have been initiated. The AJK condemned the threats and called on Kosovo Police to treat the case with priority.

Justice institutions oppose plan for vetting judges and prosecutors (Exit News)

The Kosovo Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils have boycotted the joint meeting with the government to draft legislation on vetting all judges and prosecutors in the country.

In September, the Ministry of Justice presented the government with experts’ proposals on the vetting, after six months of work led by Deputy Minister Nita Shala, also attended by representatives of justice institutions.

The main of the five proposals entailed constitutional changes and approval of new laws. Five vetting panels would be established – three for judges and two for prosecutors. Decisions for each subject vetted would be public.

The government passed the proposal in October, and it planned to begin work to draft legislation and detail the reform.

However, the Judicial Council and Prosecutorial Council reject being vetted by external institutions, claiming that they should organize and lead a vetting process without any interference from parliament. They accuse the ministry of not sharing the final draft-proposals before the government approved the document.

The government denies the claim, arguing that both institutions have been participating throughout the six-month work of drafting the proposals.

Opposition by the two institutions to the ruling majority’s work to reform the system intensified after the European Commission’s progress report on Kosovo in October, which raised “serious concerns” over the plan.

“[…] the potential introduction of a one-off full re-evaluation of all prosecutors and judges is a source of serious concern,” the report noted. “Such a process should be considered only as an exceptional measure of last resort, once all existing tools and mechanisms to ensure integrity and fight corruption of judicial officeholders have been exhausted,” it added.

The European Union has been a staunch supporter of a similar but much more robust reform in Albania, which decimated judges and prosecutors in the system, and left the country without functioning highest courts – Constitutional and High Courts – for over two years.

Earlier news on the EU’s discouragement of Kosovo and North Macedonia from vetting judges and prosecutors, as well as the EC report itself contradicted the EU’s continuous praise of Albania’s justice reform and its implementation.

It remains unclear why the European Commission does not encourage Kosovo to carry out the vetting of all prosecutors and judges, whose justice it assesses as “slow, inefficient and vulnerable to undue political influence.”

Meanwhile, despite backlash from justice institutions and the EU skepticism, the government has reiterated it will advance the reform and present it to parliament, with the aim to clean the system from corrupt judges and prosecutors and improve administration of justice.

Albanians deny Serbia claim on deal on their removal from civil registry (Exit News)

Ragmi Mustafi, one of the leader of Serbia’s ethnic Albanians, has denied government claims that he has agreed with authorities that Albanians’ residential addresses are not being removed from the country’s civil registry after being marked as passive.

Last week, Serbia’s Minister for Human and Minority Rights Gordana Comic defended the government application of the law, stressing that this was also agreed by the National Council of Albanians (NSA).

In a post on Facebook, NSA leader Ragmi Mustafi denied Comic’s claim, arguing that the opposite had happened in a meeting with the minister the day before.

“As in all other meetings, I reiterated yesterday that putting residential addresses in a passive mode based on ethnicity is unacceptable, and that all Albanians’ addresses that have been unjustly classified as passive must be reinstated,” Mustafi wrote.

In May 2020, researcher Flora Ferati-Sachsenmaier drew attention to the issue in an article for Exit News. She argued that the Serbian government is systematically removing Albanians from the civil registry in the predominantly Albanian municipalities of the Presheva Valley.

Authorities verify if the persons are living at the address they declared, and in case they are not, their residential address is classified as “passive”, and then removed from the registry if no one complains within eight days.

Researchers and independent organizations argue that the law is disproportionately applied to Albanians, a large number of whom migrate to work elsewhere due to the poor economic and social conditions provided in their area by the Serbian government.

Removal from the civil registry results in loss of the right to renew documents, which in turn excludes citizens from a number of rights, including the right to vote, and receiving public services such as education and health.

The issue was highlighted as “ethnic cleansing” by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia in a 2021 report.

“Not only does this suspend the civil rights of Albanians, but it is a very specific measure of administrative ethnic cleansing,” they stated.

In the municipality of Medvegja, residential addresses of more than 4,000 Albanians were removed from the registry, reducing Albanians’ number to only about 500 people. The Serbian government is now focusing more intensively on the other two municipalities with an ethnic Albanian majority – Bujanovc and Presheva, the report says.

Member of European Parliament Viola von Cramon, who is responsible for reporting on Kosovo, called on the European Union in January to “urgently” address the issue.

In a resolution in March, the European Parliament stated that it was “deeply worried about the allegations that the Serbian authorities are abusing the law on the residence of citizens and the ‘passivization’ of residential addresses of citizens of Albanian ethnicity living in southern Serbia in a systematic and discriminatory manner; calls for independent and thorough investigations into these allegations and on the Serbian authorities to cease all discriminatory practices and targeting.”

LAREG Meeting in Paris: on the media situation in the Balkans countries (EFJ)

European Federation of Journalists Labour Rights Expert Group (LAREG+) and Freelance Expert Group (FREG) met in Paris on 15 November invited by the SNJ-CGT with the objective to make bridges and coordinate better their action and work. Representatives of 20 European journalists’ organisations exchanged good practices and knowledge about collective bargaining, social dialogue as well as freelancers’ rights. The implementation of the Copyright directive and the expected new guidelines on EU competition rules for freelancers were also discussed. Read below a summary of the situation in the Balkan region, by LAREG co-chair and President of the Croatian Union of Journalists Maja Sever.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3kX8uZ2

COVID-19: 10 new cases, no deaths (media)

Ten new cases with COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 13 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 323 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Flaming bus crash in Bulgaria kills 45 North Macedonian tourists (Reuters)

At least 45 people, including 12 children, died as a bus carrying mostly North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria hours before daybreak on Tuesday, officials said.

Seven people who leapt from the burning bus were rushed to hospital in Sofia and were in stable conditions, hospital staff said. Bulgaria's interior ministry said 45 people died, making it the most deadly bus accident in the Balkan country's history.

Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said bodies were "clustered inside and are burnt to ash."

"The picture is terrifying, terrifying. I have never seen anything like that before," he told reporters at the site.

The cause of the accident was unclear but the bus appeared to have hit a highway barrier either before or after it caught fire, Bulgarian officials said.

The accident happened on Struma highway about 45 km (28 miles) west of Sofia around 2:00 a.m. (0000 GMT), Bulgarian officials said. The coach party was returning to Skopje from a weekend holiday trip to Istanbul, a trip of about 800 km (500 miles).

Television footage showed the bus charred and gutted by fire in the middle of the highway, which was wet from rain.

"We have an enormous tragedy here," Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev told reporters.

North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said he had spoken to one of the survivors who told him the passengers were sleeping when they were woken by the sound of an explosion.

"I am terrified. This is such a huge tragedy," he told private television channel BTV.

Bulgarian investigative service chief Borislav Sarafov said four buses from a North Macedonian travel agency had entered Bulgaria late on Monday from Turkey.

"Human mistake by the driver or a technical malfunction are the two initial versions for the accident," he said.